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1 John

Authorship

The authorship of 1, 2, and 3 John are tied to the
authorship of John, since the themes and style of all four books are so
close. The author of John identifies himself as one of the twelve
disciples in John 21:20-24.

External
evidence points us to John the son of Zebedee (one of the 3) as the
disciple that authored the three epistles and gospel by the same name. Irenaeus of Lyons mentions in his book, Adversus haeresies,
"John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast
[and] did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in
Asia." (Book III, chapter i).

Date

Many believe that
John wrote his gospel after the synoptic gospels, since his gospel
seems to supplement the synoptic gospels with other material that they
do not cover.

Audience

The audience of 1 John seems to be Greek. Note the exhortation in 1 John 5:21
to "keep yourselves from idols." This would have great relevance for a
Gentile audience. If we assume John was in Ephesus at the time he wrote
these letters, they were probably intended to be distributed to
churches in the surrounding areas.

Purpose

1 John 5:13 provides a purpose statement for the letter of 1 John. In it he states the following:

These
things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

From this passage it is apparent that John wanted to

assure the readers of their salvation

encourage them to remain in the faith

What would have caused them to doubt their salvation? 1 John 2:18
warns that many "antichrists have come". These false teachers may have
claimed an "anointing" or special knowledge that was required to be
saved. To counter act this heresy, John encourages them with the fact
that "you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all
things." (see 1 John 2:20) and later in verse 26 and 27

These things I have written to you concerning those who try to
deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides
in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same
anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a
lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

A
common characteristic of false teachers and "antichrists" is that they
often try to deceive their followers into thinking that they have
special knowledge or anointing that is required in order to be saved.
This is often a way for false teachers to gain power over his
followers. Here, John is telling them that "you do not need that anyone
teach you" because "the same anointing teaches you concerning all
things". The Holy Spirit guides God's elect into all truth through the
"witness" of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This knowledge is
supernaturally revealed to God's elect by way of the anointing of the
Holy Spirit.

John's 2nd purpose from 1 John 5:13 is that they "may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." This reveals the nature of the heresy taught by the false teachers who had left them. 1 John 4:1-3
and 2 John 1:7 show that these teachers denied that God the Son came in
the flesh. John may have been dealing with incipient (or early) gnosticism.

Irenaeus records (Against Heresies 3.3.4) a story from Polycarp (65-155 A.D.), a disciple of the apostle John.

There
are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord,
going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out
of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, "Let us fly, lest even
the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is
within."

Cerinthus
was regarded by the early church fathers as being a heresiarch
(arch-heretic). According to the early church fathers, Cerinthus
claimed angelic inspiration. He taught that the visible world and
heavens were not made by God but by a lesser power (demiurge).
Cerinthus also made a distinction between the man Jesus and Christ,
claiming that Christ had descended upon the man Jesus at his baptism
and leaving him at his crucifixion. Cerinthus, also denied the
supernatural birth of Jesus.

Cerinthus is therefore a perfect first century example of what what 1 John teaches against, namely:

secret anointing (angelic inspiration)

denying that God the Son came in the flesh.

Discussion Questions

How are "secret anointings" alive and well in today's church?

Read John 1:1-4;14. What heresies do these passages address?

Some
use 1 John 4:1 to show how we should test the "spirit of prophecy".
What does John mean when he says "test the spirits" in 1 John 4:1?

Read 1 John 3:10-15. How does this passage explain how we can identify false teachers.

Read 1 John 5:2-3 and 2 John 1:6. What is love? Is love an emotion? Has God ever commanded us to have or exercise an emotion?